John Carpenter is anything but subtle in his approach to shocker material. Premise is obvious from almost the first frame, as a grizzled John Houseman tells youngsters grouped around a campfire about a foggy curse that surrounds a coastal town where a horrible shipwreck took place 100 years ago.
Story exposition and setting are well-established before the opening titles are over, and The Fog proceeds to layer one fright atop another.
Adrienne Barbeau makes her film debut as the husky-voiced deejay of the town’s sole radio station, perched atop a lighthouse from which the title phenomenon becomes increasingly apparent.
Thesping is okay in all departments although Janet Leigh isn’t given much to do, nor is daughter Jamie Lee Curtis.